August 13, 2007

Director held for playing doctor

NST: PUTRAJAYA: According to his work permit, the Indian national is a technical director with a Klang-based company.
The man was arrested on Saturday by the Immigration Department as he was treating a patient in a Bukit Sentosa clinic in Rawang.
The department raided the clinic about 7pm after receiving several tip-offs. They caught the “doctor” red-handed treating a Nepalese factory worker.
Also arrested was a Malaysian man, believed to be a doctor and the owner of the clinic, Immigration enforcement chief Datuk Ishak Mohamed said.
Both men are in their late 30s.
Ishak said the Indian national had a work permit as a technical director for a company called Syarikat Edaran Anggun.
Documents, photographs and salary vouchers seized from the clinic showed that the foreigner had been on the clinic’s payroll since March this year and was paid RM25 per hour.
The Malaysian man’s passport was seized and he was freed on police bail.
The man told Immigration officers that the foreigner was only asked to stand in as a locum for him while he attended to other appointments.
Ishak said the foreigner had abused his work permit and was being held pending investigations, adding that he would refer the matter to the Health Ministry and the Malaysian Medical Association for action to be taken against the Malaysian.
Investigations are scheduled to be completed in two weeks, after which the department hopes to charge both men jointly.
The foreigner will be charged with abusing his work permit, while the Malaysian will be charged with employing foreign workers without approval, said Ishak.